The AIRC's seven-member national wage bench has used what seems certain to be its final living wage decision to strongly defend its minimum rate setting record during the Coalition's nine-year reign.
John Holland chair Janet Holmes a Court told the AHRI national convention today that the company had attracted more than 15,000 applicants to its employment website, after an advertising campaign that sought to attract workers from outside the construction industry for a massive road project.
The AIRC will tomorrow hand down what might be its last national wage case decision, as the Howard Government prepares to hand fixation of minimum rates to the proposed Australian Fair Pay Commission.
The Prime Minister and Labor state and territory leaders emerged from today's COAG meeting describing it as the most cooperative and productive in recent history - except in one key area.
ALP premiers meeting in Canberra now with the Prime Minister, John Howard, say they expect IR - the most divisive item on today's COAG agenda - to be dealt with fairly quickly, with an agreement to disagree.
The ILO will next week investigate whether Australia's current workplace laws comply with international obligations to allow employees to join unions and bargain collectively.
As the ALP premiers begin arriving in Canberra ahead of tomorrow's COAG meeting, the former NSW IR Minister and Attorney-General, Jeff Shaw QC, says there is a "respectably arguable case" against the Federal Government's planned takeover of the states' IR systems.
With John Howard set to demand at Friday's COAG meeting that the states cede their IR powers to Canberra, Queensland has thrown a spanner in the works, saying it will legislate to provide minimum conditions for the State's workers, while NSW will look at following the same path.
